2023-10-12 15:06
So, this is the second 25 years later post I’ve written. The first was a 500 word vomit produced in about 20 minutes. Disjointed. Disorganized.
The fact is, I am in Laramie, Wyoming… Read More
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Tqe | That Queer Expatriate Blog
elmada.com
Blog of an Gay American living in Germany. Relections on cultural differences, queer culture, politics, and more. Travel discussion of Europe and the USA.
2023-06-28 06:05
A decade ago I reflected on reading “I am J” – the first book I had read focusing on transgender individuals. At the time, it was one of the few books I had read that took… Read More
2023-04-20 15:03
Last fall when Twitter started being destroyed, I set up an account on Mastodon – and after an initial burst of activity on Mastodon, I have reverted back to my Twitter-scale of use… Read More
2022-12-08 16:47
Back in November I took a week long vacation to Maine and Boston with a friend.
We didn’t need a car for the Boston part of the trip, but the Maine portion need one. After landing in B… Read More
2022-11-01 16:27
In 2022, ordering something is super easy with constant updates.
I get an email confirming the order, I get an email telling me my order has been shipped. Then I get an email from the delive… Read More
2022-10-11 22:01
Wow.
Today marks 24 years since Matthew Shepard died.
It remains difficult to write my thoughts about him every year, some of this is because I feel like I am being a bit repetitious, some o… Read More
2022-09-10 16:00
Last October I popped over to Saarbrücken for a weekend, gong there to see the Völklinger Hütte — A UNESCO World Heritage Site that, from a distance, seemed pretty cool… Read More
2022-09-05 17:20
In July, I decided that I needed to plan a weekend in Vienna in order to, uh… escape the heat of my apartment for an air conditioned hotel room in Vienna. Yup, I specifically sought o… Read More
2022-08-24 17:32
I spent last weekend in Essen with a friend.
The raison d’être for the trip was the Zollverein, a coal mine that has been turned into a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I’m tha… Read More
2022-08-22 17:29
About 11 years ago, I promised to donate money to the University of Wyoming Rainbow Resource Center every year.
I’ve kept my promise – some how donating enough to become worthy o… Read More
2022-08-15 16:59
I’m a huge fan of Germany’s experiment with public transport this summer: 9€/month for unlimited local transit across the entire country?
Bravo!
Strangely, though, I’v… Read More
2022-08-12 17:41
I’m fast approaching the three year mark of walking at least 10,000 steps every day, even on days when I travel and it is otherwise difficult.
A small celebration will occur when appr… Read More
2022-05-05 08:06
I moved across Berlin back in September 2020 – thankfully during a “pause” of sort in the pandemic. Despite having been around a large number of people who were instrument… Read More
2022-04-25 16:51
One of my family’s stories involves a very young Adam – but considering that I do not remember the story, I would presume it happened in the 1970s, roughly speaking.
We’d t… Read More
2022-03-13 15:27
At my new home, this piece of art no longer hangs directly in view from my working position – so it is no longer something I stare at continuously.
I previously featured 38 Days in my… Read More
2021-10-11 22:01
Matthew Shepard died 23 years ago today.
Another year has ticked by.
Another moment to pause and reflect on Matthew Shepard.
One remarkable thing about Matthew Shepard is that he continues… Read More
2021-09-26 06:29
I’m fresh back from a trip to the USA, where paranoia about Covid is on a whole different level from Germany. Excluding Monroe County, Indiana, only three shops enforced a mask mandate… Read More
2021-08-27 14:55
Since I have not been travelling or planning travel, I’ve had some serious extra energy to devote to strange things.
Awhile back I discovered two romance novels: Him and Us – bo… Read More
2021-08-16 11:48
Earlier this summer I attended a few Berlin Flamingos baseball games – for the first time in two years, since last summer was, well, coronaed.
One cool thing about the Flamingos is tha… Read More
2021-08-02 09:50
In my lifetime, I have attended a large number of graduation ceremonies, including several where I walked the stage. Many more have been to honor friends and colleagues who have completed a… Read More
2021-08-01 10:51
Every so often I wonder what happened to various people from my past.
Thanks to Google, I can give it a go.
Earlier this year I googled one of my contemporaries from the University of Wyomin… Read More
2021-06-18 06:51
Last year, during the initial lockdown, there was that run on soap and on toilet paper.
Both puzzled me: I always have enough soap on hand to get me through at least the next three months … Read More
2021-06-15 09:35
Sometimes it is in random moments that things said to you years ago make sense.
For example, I recall once listening to my paternal grandmother complain about the address of her apartment in… Read More
2020-12-09 15:05
It’s been awhile since I blogged.
Sorry.
But moving takes effort – and I have had both awesome experiences (KaminPalast, Dielerei), ones where things have taken longer than expec… Read More
2020-10-11 23:00
Fuck.
Twenty-two years.
Time is so fleeting – how the hell have 22 years passed?
I write this from my new home, still in Berlin, but some 7 kilometers from my old home.
One of the thin… Read More
2020-09-19 23:00
Now that I’ve moved, my apartment is filled with boxes – and I don’t have a reason to unpack until the kitchen is installed and other furniture delivered – a few week… Read More
2020-09-18 23:00
I bought the above bracelet in 2013 while visiting New Mexico – the same trip when I bought Whatchamacallit 18: the Navajo Plant Dye Chart and Whatchamacallit 92: Navajo Turquoise Bra… Read More
2020-09-17 23:00
I’ve visited New Zealand twice. Once.
Both visits were part of my 2015 around the world adventure – before and after Samoa and American Samoa. It depends how you count “vi… Read More
2020-09-16 23:00
In July I wrote about Berliner Luft, the soap bubbles.
Now it is about Berliner Luft, a peppermint liquor that is best not drunken.
However, 2.5 years ago I bought this bottle to celebrate… Read More
2020-09-15 23:00
I bought this thing in 2010, shortly after moving into my apartment in Schöneberg.
Throughout the year, as postcards and greeting cards arrive, I fill it up – then in late Novemb… Read More
2020-09-14 23:00
I’ve never worn this hat.
This was a giveaway from the BVG – Berlin’s public transit agency – during Berlin’s Christopher Street Day (Berlin Pride) several yea… Read More
2020-09-13 23:00
I bought this magnet while in Berlin on vacation from a stand at the Boxhagener Platz flea market on Sunday morning.
The back of the magnet is signed, with a 2007 date mentioned.
I cannot r… Read More
2020-09-12 23:00
This book is not the first copy of this book that I’ve owned.
The first copy of this book I got in either kindergarten or first grade – I would guess kindergarten, but logically… Read More
2020-09-11 23:00
I bought this hat from a shop in Laramie, Wyoming. I have no idea how long ago, how much, or which shop.
The shop did have a small selection of goods made from buffalo wool, including coast… Read More
2020-09-10 23:00
This is an expensive hat: I bought it in the country that is home to Panama hats, Ecuador.
If my geography is correct – and the store has continuity of ownership, I bought it at EBD C… Read More
2020-09-09 23:00
A dear friend re-gifted me this XXX Pepper shaker as soon as the person who gave it to her left the house.
The friend’s friend cockily assumed that the friend wouldn’t mind a pe… Read More
2020-09-08 23:00
Last year, Elizabeth Warren was one of the presidential candidates I supported early on. Clearly, I am somewhat disappointed that she did not do better in the primaries. However, I am going… Read More
2020-09-07 23:00
This is the other bottle of whisk(e)y that I bought while in New York City last Christmas (see: 97, Bull Head Bourbon).
Distilled in New York City – Brooklyn (King County) to be preci… Read More
2020-09-06 23:00
I saw this game for sale at the Winterfeldtmarkt – for several months – and I was intrigued.
So I bought it.
I do not know how much I paid, but I would imagine 20-30€; roug… Read More
2020-09-05 23:00
A few weeks ago, I posted Adam, 1977, a magnificent piece of art that I cannot bring myself to throw away, even as I hide it in a drawer, unsure of what exactly I am supposed to do with it… Read More
2020-09-04 23:00
I’ve previously noted that I am not really a jewelry person – and so here is the only ring that I own.
Although I rarely wear it, I love it: it is a Charles Rennie Mackintosh Ri… Read More
2020-09-03 23:00
I popped onto Amazon recently searching for something, but thanks to an absent-minded linguistic mistake on my part, I ended up discovering that there is such a thing as submergible LED lig… Read More
2020-09-02 23:00
As a member of the lactose intolerance community, the pills inside this bottle are critical for making my love of cheese possible.
Funny enough, I carry two kinds of lactose pills around: t… Read More
2020-09-01 23:00
This copy of the 2017 UK £10 note is on display because it features a quote from Jane Austin:
“I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!”
Although the line i… Read More
2020-08-31 23:00
I sent myself this postcard from Baltasound – writing it while at the Baltasound Hotel Restaurant on May 30, 2013.
This is the best smelling restaurant I’ve been in in years &nd&helli…Read More
2020-08-30 23:00
What a find this was: I started digging through my cupboard.
Either it is overstuffed or the flatpack cupboard is starting to see the end of its lifespan, some 17 years after it was initial… Read More
2020-08-29 23:00
My last big, fun, international trip was to Japan, which I mentioned in Whatchamacallit 85: Japanese Vase – there I talked about Okinawa, which was pleasantly warm and sunny.
At the o… Read More
2020-08-28 23:00
A year or two ago, I used the bathroom at a friend’s place – noticing the non-plastic toothbrushes. I asked about them – learning about bamboo toothbrushes that are entire… Read More
2020-08-27 23:00
This faucet was a present from a friend – and it is just whimsical enough that I installed it high on the wall, just outside my bedroom wall.
I actually use the hook under the faucet… Read More
2020-08-26 23:00
This book, by Steve Gunderson and Rob Morris (with Bruce Bawer), was one of the few non-academic books that I kept in my dorm room at the University of Wyoming, the last year that I was a g… Read More
2020-08-25 23:00
When I decided to write about the backside of the Canadian $5 bill, I knew that it had a bit about ice hockey engraved into the winter wonderland; I had not realized, until after I did rese… Read More
2020-08-24 23:00
This is a nightlight, as a book – with a white light option, then five other, more colorful, options.
This is a relatively recent addition to my collection of junk: a pure impulse pur… Read More
2020-08-23 23:00
In 2017, Germany celebrated Martin Luther and the 500th anniversary of the reformation.
I observed the celebration by going to Canada.
Before I left, I did buy Martin Luther as a cookie cut… Read More
2020-08-22 23:00
So this wine cork has rested atop my electricity meter and circuit breakers since, I think, my housewarming party, which was held in fall of 2010.
Since then, I have seen it out of the corn… Read More
2020-08-21 23:00
On June 12, 2020, the Pulse nightclub in Orlando was the site of horrific mass shooting: 49 dead, 53 wounded.
While I’ve already mentioned attending a memorial at Brandenburg Tor (Wha… Read More
2020-08-20 23:00
This is the bottle of whisky I acquired in Japan this past February. I bought it in Sapporo, right at the end of my trip so that I would not have to lug it everywhere.
Based on my banking r… Read More
2020-08-19 23:00
This is a hand drawn map showing the route that Ahmed Alali took from Damascus to Berlin over the course of 38 days in 2015.
He was escaping the war in Syria.
When I photographed this drawi… Read More
2020-08-18 23:00
Back in December 2018, I spent a week in Bogota, arriving on December 24th, departing on December 31st.
It was an extraordinarily nice, low key, vacation – including a graffiti tour o… Read More
2020-08-17 23:00
I bought this particular bolo tie on August 12, 2017 – so just over three years ago.
My receipt, from Keshi, states:
Sterling Silver +
mother-of-pearl, jet,
turquoise, coral,
lapis w/… Read More
2020-08-16 23:00
Back in 2008 I bought underwear from Dirty Fukker – and I must have received this hat as a premium for my purchased – as I do not see an order for it in my emails. Or maybe it&r&helli…Read More
2020-08-15 23:00
I ran across this book somewhere and decided to order it: Felix Ever After
This is an amazing book about an FTM teenager attending high school in Brooklyn, exploring themes around love, fri… Read More
2020-08-14 23:00
Last year, after dumping my iPhone, I was suddenly in the market for a new noise canceling headphone that would (a) work with Bluetooth and (b) really work well. Compactness was desired.
Af… Read More
2020-08-13 23:00
Last September I spent a week in Quebec: I flew to Montreal, rented a car, slept off jetlag, then drove north – but while I tend to think of the vacation as being in Quebec, the fact… Read More
2020-08-12 23:00
Back in December 2013, I visited London to see Book of Mormon, among other things.
It was during that trip that I acquired this book, “Up.”
If you flip the book and turn it over… Read More
2020-08-11 23:00
The first time I visited Germany, the Lonely Planet guidebook mentioned that one grocery store chain had named its house brand of toilet paper, “Happy End.”
My hosts denied know… Read More
2020-08-10 23:00
I acquired my copy of The Rainbow Troops back in March 2013; I liked the book so much that I convinced my book blub to read it as the book for September 2014.
This might be the first book a… Read More
2020-08-09 23:00
I’ve been engaged in random cleaning of late, in doing so, I ran across this small key chain Ա – the Armenian letter A. I bought it in 2006 during my first visit to Armeni… Read More
2020-08-08 23:00
In 2015, I visited Albuquerque, New Mexico, for the first time in years – although I have relatives living in the city and I love Santa Fe, I do not visit New Mexico nearly enough.
Th… Read More
2020-08-07 23:00
If all had gone according to plan, right now I would be in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Vancouver is, hands down, one of my top ten cities globally: it is a place worth visiting incorporating gre… Read More
2020-08-06 23:00
I bought this anklet on October 24, 2015, at Holuaola Gallery, which is in Holuaola, Hawaii.
According to the receipt, I paid $22.50, taxes of $0.94, making for a grand total of $23.44. I u… Read More
2020-08-05 23:00
Back in 2011, when my blog was busy, I asked if anybody remembered Alvin Fernald. Nobody responded.
So, a mere 9 years later, I finally decided to track down one of the books that I mention… Read More
2020-08-04 23:00
I bought this Gay Tarot deck in June 2017 for 21.49€.
I no longer remember the context, but I do recall that I had been watching an interview of some kind and the guest had brought Gay… Read More
2020-08-03 23:00
I acquired this hat on August 8, 2018, while attending University of Wyoming Night at the Colorado Rockies – hence it has Steamboat (the bucking horse) and his rider in Colorado Rocki… Read More
2020-08-02 23:00
The very first Kickstarter project that I backed was this, the Bring Your Dick To The Table, by Holly Wilson. I supported the project in March 2014.
With the charge that, “If all that… Read More
2020-08-01 23:00
The artplate displayed – as it is both a magnificent piece of art and a plate one can dine off of – is drawn by one of the 20th century’s greatest unknown artists.
Me.
App… Read More
2020-07-31 23:00
I bought this bottle of whiskey last August in Portland, Maine.
Portland, Maine, was the second of three stops I made in New England: the first was Western Massachusetts to see a high schoo… Read More
2020-07-30 23:00
This copy of i’i shetland is from my visit to the Shetland Islands in 2013.
i’i shetland is a magazine clearly aimed at locals – more so than any other magazine of this il… Read More
2020-07-29 23:00
This boyfriend was a present from a friend – I think I know which one, but, to be honest, it wouldn’t surprise me if a number of different friends had given it to me.
As you can… Read More
2020-07-28 23:00
When I went to Japan, to Hiroshima, for the first time, back in 2013, I made a point of flying ANA, All Nippon Airways, there. At the time, they flew the 787 from Frankfurt to Tokyo Handea… Read More
2020-07-27 23:00
A year or two ago I was in a la-di-da kids shop, Kleine Gesellschaft, in Prenzlauer Berg, where I stumbled upon “Berliner Luft.”
It’s the kind of kids shop that is so upsc… Read More
2020-07-26 23:00
I bought this vase in, I believe, December 2018, at the Japanese Christmas Market.
The market was held at Malzfabrik, which is located “behind” (sort-of) the Schöneberg IKE… Read More
2020-07-25 23:00
This small collection of Star Trek characters was acquired while I lived in Weimar.
These were the toys included with kid’s meals at Burger King – and I discovered that they exi… Read More
2020-07-24 23:00
When I left the States to (temporarily) move to Germany, this was a present from one of my wonderful colleagues at Indiana University Bloomington.
It lived in my office before I moved to Be… Read More
2020-07-23 23:00
This is Brandenburg Tor as a toy – one that you fill with sand, compact, moisten, then flip and, voila! Brandenburg Tor has come to the beach.
Ignore the fact that it has an incorrect… Read More
2020-07-22 23:00
I’ve owned this flag since, I believe, spring of 1998.
As I vaguely recall, I bought it shortly before graduating with my MA in Political Science (minor in Environment and Natural Res… Read More
2020-07-21 23:00
I bought this package of Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Colors awhile back: judging from its expiration date of March 8, 2015, I probably bought it in 2014.
Given the rainbow, I thought of it as… Read More
2020-07-20 23:00
I bought this bolo tie on October 22, 2015, from Keshi, the Zuni connection shop in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
I paid US$450, plus sales tax, using a Visa card.
My receipt states:
Rainbow man Bo… Read More
2020-07-19 23:00
Servant. Cum Dump.
I picked up these two buttons last fall during the Berlin Porn Film Festival, an annual orgy of respectable pornography.
They were offered for free in the gender-neutral b… Read More
2020-07-18 23:00
I have no idea what this is, exactly.
It seems to be a small square pillow with a hanging hook. It might actually be a pin cushion.
The tag, which I have never bothered to remove, says:
Ha… Read More
2020-07-17 23:00
While most people cleaned their homes during the first few weeks of lockdown, I was slammed, workwise – so I maintained my new normal without much boredom:
0515 or 0530: Alarm, get dr… Read More
2020-07-16 23:00
This Merman Christmas ornament like thing has hung on a nail in my hallway for years. As I recall the details, I bought it at the same shop where I bought my tacky inflatable Christmas tree… Read More
2020-07-15 23:00
I bought this piece of art at the Winterfeldtmarkt a few years ago – I have no idea how much I paid for it, but it was probably 20€ or less.
The backside has a small sticker indi… Read More
2020-07-14 23:00
I acquired this cloth shopping bag in 2018 while visiting Paris.
I was in Paris for one night – with the only objective being to visit the Canadian Cultural Centre where I could see a… Read More
2020-07-13 23:00
I acquired this wristband thingy whilst riding the Lady Gaga truck at Berlin CSD (Pride) 2011.
If it weren’t for the fact that I keep it on a shelf that I see out of the corner of my… Read More
2020-07-12 23:00
I acquired this wooden tree when I lived in Weimar.
Thinking back, I believe I bought it at a kids toy shop that featured only natural materials (e.g. no plastic). However, I am not 100% co… Read More
2020-07-11 23:00
So, I bought this particular pair of Bluetooth headphones awhile back – sometime last summer. I have no idea how much I paid for them. However, I paid 15.99€ each for two backup… Read More
2020-07-10 23:00
When it became clear that face masks would become required, it was time to invest.
Some of my investment choices were bad (relegated to the bottom of my bag ‘o masks), some were outst… Read More
2020-07-09 23:00
Back when I was a coffee snob, I thought that it would be cool to have this, an empty, used, sack of coffee on my kitchen wall as decoration.
Its time is up – and I have decided to re… Read More
2020-07-08 23:00
This is one of my few pieces of jewelry, another bracelet.
I used to wear this Men’s Silver Satyr Torc Bracelet frequently – it weighs less than the previously shown Navajo Turq… Read More
2020-07-07 23:00
This is actually the second Mützchen that I’ve owned – I gave the first one away, a move I regretted.
This was attached to the top of a bottle of fruit juice – a prom… Read More
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